


R + E

by offitstracks



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Fluff and Angst, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, M/M, Richie Tozier Has ADHD, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier is a Mess, Sonia Kaspbrak's A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:21:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22181734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/offitstracks/pseuds/offitstracks
Summary: Eddie goes too far in an argument, causing Richie to storm out. What happens after leads to something neither of them saw coming.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, The Losers Club/The Losers Club (IT)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 140





	R + E

**Author's Note:**

> Me, self-projecting, once again. I wrote this really quickly and did not proofread it, so there are probably a lot of errors, I apologize. I also apologize because the only thing I know how to write is angst, but hey! At least there's a happy ending.

Richie loved his friends. They were more than just friends to him, they were his family, there for him when his real family couldn’t be. They were the most important people in his life. Especially Eddie. Eddie had always held a special place in Richie’s heart. In fact, Richie was pretty sure he was in love with the boy, and had been since he was 12 years old, which was five whole years ago. Not that Eddie could ever know. Richie had lost enough people in his life to know that he could not handle losing another, especially Eddie, and he was afraid that if Eddie ever found out how he felt, it would ruin their friendship. There was also the fact that he had no clue whether Eddie was into guys at all. He had his suspicions, but he didn’t want to assume anything. Besides, even if he was into guys, why would he be into someone like him? Richie thought Eddie deserved someone way better than him.  
While Eddie’s sexuality was up in the air, Richie had already come out to his friends the year before as bisexual. It wasn’t exactly the best coming out. In fact, it was horrible. Richie had been forced out of the closet by Henry Bowers after he had caught him with his cousin. While many of the students at the school weren’t the most accepting, he had received nothing but love and support from his six best friends and his mom, and that was all that really mattered to him anyways.  
Richie’s mom was the only family he had. His dad had left when he was 10 years old. Not that Richie was ever close to him anyways. He remembered barely ever even speaking to his father, and when he would try to, he would often be ignored. Looking back, that was before Richie’s severe ADHD had been treated, and his father probably didn’t know how to handle him, so instead of trying, just pretended like he wasn’t there. Needless to say, he never really missed his dad much.  
Richie loved his mom, but he hardly ever actually saw her, something that really upset him. It was typical that he would see her maybe three times a week, and only for short periods of time between shifts, or after a shift before bed. After his dad left, his mom had to get another job, now working all day and into the night just to be able to afford rent and groceries. Richie often felt overwhelmingly guilty because his mom also paid for his medications and counseling, despite Richie having his own part-time job at the arcade and offering to pay for those things himself. She refused, telling him to save up his own paychecks for college instead. The two of them lived in a tiny, two bedroom apartment, but it was all they needed. Richie was hardly ever there, instead choosing to spend time with his friends, because he could not stand being alone for too long.  
That’s why, on a Friday evening after school, he found himself making his way to the clubhouse, where all of the losers were meant to meet at 6pm. He was excited to get out of the apartment, even if he had only been there alone for a few hours after school. He dropped his bike on the grass outside the opening of the clubhouse, and started to make his way down the ladder.  
He immediately heard the voices of his friends, and realized with dismay that he was the last one there. “Oh, come on guys!” He exclaimed, reaching the bottom of the latter and turning to face all of them. “I was even on time, and I’m still the last one here?” Ben chuckled as Richie bounded over to the hammock, which was already occupied by Eddie, and plopped down on it, causing the hammock to swing dangerously and Eddie to nearly topple off. “A little fucking warning would have been nice, asshole,” Eddie sputtered out, trying to hide the fact that his face was burning red. The two situated to a comfortable position. Richie’s head at one end, with Eddie’s at the other, their legs tangled together and Richie’s hand lying on top of Eddie’s calf.  
“Oh Eds, you love me and we all know it,” Richie said, dramatically holding his other hand to his heart. Eddie rolled his eyes in response, and let out a muttered, “Don’t fucking call me that.”  
“A-anyways Rich, we were t-t-talking about our plans for later t-tonight,” Bill began, too used to Richie and Eddie’s shenanigans to think twice about it. “W-we’re going to my house to w-watch movies.” “Sounds good, Billy boy! As long as we can watch at least one horror movie,” Richie said, wiggling his eyebrows in Eddie’s direction. “Noooooo,” Eddie whined, his eyebrows knitting together. Richie almost physically swooned because of how adorable he was. “You know I hate horror movies!”  
“Don’t worry, Eddie-Bear! I’ll protect you!” Richie says, trying to make himself look as big as possible. “Wow, Richie,” Stanley said in the overly-sarcastic Stan way, “I’m sure that really makes him feel better.” “I’m with Richie!” Bev exclaimed. Richie gave her a toothy grin. He could always count on Bev to be on his side. Mike shrugged beside her, “I’m down for a horror movie,” he added, looking towards Eddie apologetically. Ben nodded in agreement. “S-sorry Eddie. Looks like your o-outnumbered,” Bill said, although he didn’t sound all too sorry. Eddie groaned in response, crossing his arms.  
The losers continued as usual for the next two hours. Richie and Eddie playfully bantered, still pressed together on the hammock. Bev, Ben and Mike chatted about the latest school gossip Mike had missed and the farm, while Stan and Bill got into a passionate conversation about birds (which was mostly led by Stan, but Bill politely nodded along and responded when necessary). It was normal and it was comfortable.  
Richie was in the middle of telling Eddie a very animated story about how he had gotten yelled at in history class that day for falling asleep when Eddie’s phone rang loudly, startling everyone out of their separate conversations. “Shit, I forgot my ringer was on,” Eddie struggled to get the phone out of his front pocket, causing enough movement to make the hammock swing, sending Richie plummeting to the ground with a crash. Richie was about to make a snarky comment in return when he noticed Eddie’s face visibly fall as he stared down at the ringing phone. “What’s wrong?” He asked instead, voice laced with concern. Eddie’s eyes met Richie’s. “Oh, it’s uh, it’s nothing. It’s just my mom,” He said quietly. He stood up and went to a corner of the clubhouse, trying to get as much privacy as he could from the other losers. Despite this, the clubhouse was small and they could still hear everything. The six of them shared a worried look as Eddie said, “Hello?” into the phone. “I told you I was hanging out with my friends tonight…. At Bill’s house….. What do you mean?.... But you already said I could before…… But….. Mom, it’s a Friday night….. Okay, fine……… Bye.” Eddie sighed dejectedly as he hung up the phone and his arm fell limply to his side.  
It took him awhile before he turned around and lifted his head to meet the eyes of the other six losers, anxiously awaiting the news. “I have to go. I’m sorry. I know we were all supposed to go to Bill’s, but I won’t be able to. You guys have fun,” He said quickly, starting towards the exit. “Did something happen?” Ben asked at the same time as Stan said, “Is everything okay?” “Everything’s fine, it’s just the usual. She changed her mind about me being able to be out tonight. Said I’ve been spending too much time away from home lately and she wants me there,” Eddie said sadly, looking down at his feet. “That’s bullshit, Eddie,” Bev said, folding her arms with an annoyed expression on her face. “Yeah, you spend plenty of time at home. She shouldn’t stop you from spending time with your friends,” Mike added. “Yeah, yeah, but nothing I say will change her mind,” Eddie said, brushing them off. “But you barely even tried. This happens all the time, Eds. You’re 17, can’t you just, I don’t know, tell her no?” Richie asked, annoyance lacing his voice. “No, she’s my mom, Richie. I have to listen to her.” Richie rolled his eyes at this, “Bullshit, Eddie. You’re practically an adult. You can’t let her treat you like this anymore. She is way too overprotective,” Richie pressed on, refusing to let Eddie go like this. Eddie felt anger flare up in his chest. His mom already caused his patience to be stretched thin, and Richie wasn’t helping by pestering him like this. “Look, Richie, you don’t know what it’s like, okay? It’s not that easy to just disobey her like that,” Eddie shot back. Richie sighed in frustration, “You wouldn’t know because you never try! You can’t let her keep controlling you like this!” Richie’s hands were flying around in front of him like crazy, something he always did when he was trying to get a point across. “She just cares about me, it’s fine Richie!” Eddie turned around to start climbing up the ladder, but Richie wouldn’t let him go that easy. “She has a weird way of showing it by keeping you from your friends!”  
This caused Eddie to snap and he turned back to Richie on his heels, blind with anger. “How would you know how a parent shows that they care? At least my mom actually cares about me enough to call and check up on me and actually wants to spend time with me! At least she cares about where I go and what I do, unlike someone!” He regretted it as soon as he finished and he felt his heart break into a million pieces when he saw Richie visibly deflate, still on the ground where Eddie left him. Richie dropped his gaze to the floor, curls falling to block his face. “Richie-” Eddie started, but as soon as the name came out of his mouth, Richie was up and quickly climbing the latter. “Fuck,” Eddie muttered, running a hand through his hair. He glanced at the other six losers, looking at him with wide eyes. He had almost forgotten they were there. Stan looked like he might murder Eddie. “Why would you say that?” Stan’s voice came out calm, but Eddie could tell just how angry he was. “You know how upset he gets about that.” “I know,” Eddie let out desperately. He was starting to panic, he could feel it. “I didn’t mean it. I was… I was just angry and it came out and fuck.” “I’m gonna go find him,” Stan said simply, moving to go towards the ladder. “No!” Eddie exclaimed, grabbing Stan’s arm to stop him. “Let me.” Stan looked unsure, but moved to let Eddie up the ladder. “Don’t you need to get home though, Eddie? Your mom will flip out,” Bev said, unsure. “Fuck her,” Eddie managed to get out before reaching the top of the ladder and hoisting himself out of the clubhouse.  
As soon as Eddie got out of the clubhouse, he did a quick scan for Richie and saw him in the distance riding his bike towards the direction of the kissing bridge. Eddie quickly grabbed his own bike, and pedaled as fast as he could in the same direction, hoping to keep sight of Richie. He tried to swallow down the panic still eminent in his chest, knowing he couldn’t waste time to stop and take a puff of his inhaler.  
He eventually made it to the kissing bridge and saw Richie sitting on a bench near the side of the bridge with his back towards Eddie. Eddie set his bike down quietly, trying not to let Richie hear yet out of fear that he would bolt again. He made sure to switch his phone to silent, knowing his mom would probably call him 20 times in the next 20 minutes, wondering why he wasn’t home yet. He gently approached Richie and when he got close enough for Richie to hear, Richie turned his head around quickly, obviously scared by the sudden movement behind him. When Richie realized it was him, he jumped up and made to leave. “Wait, Richie, please!” Eddie cried, reaching out to grab ahold of his arm. Richie yanked his arm away, but nonetheless, turned around the face Eddie. Eddie realized with a guilty jolt that there were tears welled up in Richie’s eyes. “What Eddie? What do you want? I just want to be by myself, okay?” His voice cracked pitifully on the last word. His eyes and face were red, so Eddie could tell he had been crying during the bike ride. “I’m so fucking sorry, Richie,” Eddie said, breaths still hitching. He wanted nothing more than to take a puff of his inhaler, but forced himself not to. “Whatever, it’s fine,” Richie said quietly, breaking eye contact and instead looking down at his shoes.  
Richie saying “it’s fine” just made Eddie feel even worse. He wanted Richie to be mad at him, to yell at him. He deserved it. “No, it’s not fine Richie!” Eddie said, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice. “Well, what the fuck do you want me to say, Eddie?” Richie snapped, anger wrapping itself around his words, and hands flying around in front of him. Their eyes met again. Eddie had never wished to be called one of Richie’s stupid nicknames as much as he had then. He wanted Richie to be okay again. “Do you want me to be mad? I’m not fucking mad at you. You were fucking right, weren’t you? I mean, my dad never gave a shit about me, and as much as I’d like to think my mom does, how could she? She hardly ever talks to me, let alone sees me.” Richie was full on crying now, tears streaming freely down his face. He flung himself back down on the bench and covered his face with his hands. Eddie didn’t know what to say. “Look, it’s fine, Eddie. We can just forget about this, alright? You’d better go before your mom gets even more angry,” Richie’s voice came out muffled. “I’m not leaving. I don’t give a fuck if she’s mad at me,” Eddie sighed, sitting gently next to Richie, being sure to leave a decent amount of space between them. All of the sudden, the words came tumbling out. “Richie, I know you don’t get to see your mom a lot, and it sucks. But she does care about you. It sucks that she has to work all the time, but she does love you. I’m sorry I said that. Really.”  
“Thanks, Eddie.” Richie’s hands were still covering his face. They sat there in silence for a few minutes, the only noises being the sounds of Richie sniffling behind his hands. “I love you, Rich. Really. You mean so much to me and the other losers. I hope you know that.” Silence. Eddie wished he had the courage to tell Richie just how much he meant to him, more than just a friend. “I love you too, Eddie,” Richie said. He finally moved his head from his hands, and Eddie was glad to see he wasn’t crying anymore. Eddie smiled at him, and received a gentle smile in return. Richie looked like he wanted to say something else, but wasn’t quite sure how. His mouth was opening and closing and under any other circumstances, Eddie would have laughed and teased him, but not now. “What is it, Rich?” Eddie asked. Richie quickly shook his head and looked down at his shaking hands. “Nothing. It’s nothing. It’s stupid.” “It’s not stupid, Rich. You know you can tell me anything.”  
Richie wanted to tell him. He had kept it in for too long and it was eating away at him. He wanted to tell him that when he said ‘I love you too, Eddie’ he didn’t mean it in the way Eddie thought he did. But every time he opened his mouth to do so, the words died in his throat. He wasn’t brave enough to say it. But maybe he could show him. “Come here,” Richie said, standing shakily and grabbing Eddie’s hand in his. Eddie got nervous as he felt just how much Richie was shaking, despite it being a nice and warm day. Eddie followed him, clueless, as Richie led him closer to the kissing bridge. When they got right next to it, Richie dropped Eddie’s hand. Eddie looked up at him expectantly. “Rich…?” He trailed off, having no idea where Richie was going with this. “I, um, wanted to show you something…” Richie said, looking at a specific place on the bridge. Eddie followed his gaze, which landed on the carving of ‘R + E’ he had seen so many times before and fantasized about it being about him and Richie. Eddie looked up at Richie again, confused. “I don’t understand.” Eddie said. Richie met his eyes, and let out a humorless laugh. “No, I didn’t expect… It’s nothing, Eddie, really,” Richie looked embarrassed. “No, Richie, I really don’t understand. Why are you showing me this?” There was a long silence. Richie took a deep breath. “I carved it, Eds.” That time, Eddie didn’t dare correct the nickname. He felt his heart skip a beat, but didn’t let himself get his hopes up. There was no way Richie feels the same. He probably carved it to symbolize their friendship.  
“Because.. Because we’re friends right?” Eddie felt dumb asking, half expecting Richie to laugh in his face and say, ‘Duh, as friends. What were you thinking?’ He didn’t do that though. Instead he let out another laugh and said, “God, Eddie. You’re so fucking oblivious.” Eddie just stared at him. “I like you, Eddie. Like like.” Richie looked like he might throw up. Eddie felt a million butterflies dance around in his stomach because he couldn’t believe this was real. Richie fucking Tozier likes him back and carved their initials into the kissing bridge! “This… this isn’t a joke right?’ Eddie asked shakily, still not believing that could actually be real. “No. Not a joke,” Richie began, then quickly added, “I know you don’t like me back, Eddie. Heck, I don’t even know if you like guys. It’s completely fine. Don’t worry about it. I just hope we can still be frie-” Richie let out a surprised gasp when his rambling was cut off by a pair of lips on his own. The kiss was short and sweet. But it sent warmth through every inch of Richie’s body. Eddie pulled back. “I like you too, Richie. Like like.”


End file.
